Kinsale TY students engineer success at Vex Robotics finals

TWO teams from a Cork secondary school scooped prestigious wins at the recent Vex Robotics National finals.

The national robotics competition for secondary school pupils, which is dubbed “Over Under”, was hosted at Munster Technological University (MTU) earlier this week.

It saw 24 elite teams from across Ireland battle for the tournament title.

Kinsale Community School had two teams entering the competition, Kinsale Team 1 — also known as Turtles — and Kinsale Team 2, also known as 50% Eagles.

Kinsale Team 2 performed collaboratively with Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair from Donegal, and were crowned as this year’s tournament champions.

During the national finals, Turtles and 50% Eagles competed against each other in a final best-of-three match, with Team 2 emerging victorious.

As a result, 50% Eagles secured a spot at the VEX World Championships in Dallas, where they will represent Ireland on a global stage.

Despite their loss in the final, Turtles received the overall Excellence Award for their performance throughout the competition and their meticulous 200-page engineering notebook.

Eddie Farren, teacher and ICT co-ordinator at Kinsale Community School, said the TY students represented the school and community with “real passion” in this year’s competition.

“Although the school has a history in the competition, these students are new to the VEX,” he said.

“What they have achieved is really remarkable.

“We have students who may not play team sports and this is an opportunity to be part of a team, competing against others to test their engineering, coding, and driving abilities,” he added.

Also applauding the teams’ winning entries, deputy principal Kathleen O’Brien said: “We are hugely proud of the success at the Vex robotics final.

“It is a great testament to the committed work and many hours put in by students and their teachers.

“We are proud to have a culture where hard work is its own reward, as we place high value on Stem [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] in the school. It is inspiring to see the students performing at such a high level.”

The journey to the national finals was no small feat for the teams, having previously qualified through gruelling regional competitions across Cork, Donegal, Galway, Limerick, and Offaly.